Um, do we want every crop to be Bananas? 1 evolved new blight from extinction?
Biology
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Scientists: "sir, the bees are dying"
Executive: "Can we make plants fuck them selves?"
fertilize, not pollinate
It's not about that, it's about trying to make plants that can do their own nitrogen fixing.
I was also misled by the title.
Too late now. Now I just gotta live with the replies.
Fertilize as in fertilizer, not fertilize as in Pollinate.
edit: wow, no one read the article before they got offended by the head line.
For the people who read "fertilize" and think pollinate: plants already do this a lot.
I'm not going to knock this research, but we're doing so much work in understanding and cultivating the soil microbiome which seems more promoting. For example, bean plants, especially will do a lot to cultivate nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and farmers are starting to add bacteria to the soil like they would add fertilizer.
Why won't nature down what we want it too ?